


A Cold Relation

by TheMonsterIAm



Category: This War of Mine (Video Game)
Genre: Character Death, Cold Weather, Coping, F/M, Gen, Minor Character Death, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sad, Spoilers, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:41:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26731555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMonsterIAm/pseuds/TheMonsterIAm
Summary: "What the hell would you know about suffering? Of what the real lines of war are, old man?" Roman shivered in the old house. His voice echoed in the vast large space like a chamber he was trapped in with the people who never had it as bad as he did growing up. How would any of them know real pain? "I grew up in god damn war, I swear to hell I-" "I lost everything. I don't even know why I bother keep going." The house was silent once more with only the sounds of their heavy breathing. "They shot my girl dead, Roman. Found her there right in Sniper Junction. I watch my own son die from sickness. I couldn't do anything, I..." Boris' face began to turn wet with tears that were already ready to freeze him up cold. "The war took everything from me. I thought you died and it happened all over again."Roman fucked up, he realized. The old man was sensitive, but this was the first time Roman saw him cry.
Kudos: 2





	A Cold Relation

The old man was going to have Roman's hide. He knew it as he covered up a wound on his body. But Roman **will** speak his turn, he'll make sure of that as his feet thumped into the ground of the new dusty snow that came only just yesterday. He hoped the old man put fuel in that damn heater of theirs. He's **not** eating shitty canned food with his ass freezing off again that day. He wasn't in the mood, not with this new cut on his arm. Roman made a puff of warm breath when he finally made his conviction as to what to say to that old man once he gets inside.

Roman expected an argument to ensure, but not almost immediately when he covered ground and moved to clean his combat boots of the polluted snow. "What the hell took you so long to get back?" Roman rolled his eyes and twisted his head up at the older man. "Thanks for the welcome home, god damn old man." "I'm being serious. What took you so long?" "Look, I went out and found a huge stash of jewels and even food-" "Where did you go?" Roman slowly moved up and made a taunting bite at the old man, "Sniper Junction, Boris." The home was silent for what felt like hours until Boris spoke up, his breath shaking in the cold air. "You **went** to Sniper Junction?" "Yeah, the goods were there and I passed the snipers easily-" " **You went to Sniper Junction?! The hell's the matter with you?!** " Roman was taken aback from the shouting that he yelled back in self-defense. "There was no fucking food and goods at the other locations! We were getting desperate! I had no fucking choice!" "There's always a choice, Roman! Anywhere but Sniper Junction, what the hell were you thinking?!" "I'm trained for shit like that! I know what I'm doing!" " **That doesn't matter!** "

The home was quiet once more and Roman made angry steps to the medical cabinet in the kitchen for bandage wraps to cover his painful wound. Maybe a small cup of alcohol will help him get over it-

"And you got hurt?! Roman, I swear you're driving me insane here!" " **You're** driving me fucking insane yelling at me! Look at the stash I fucking got, okay?! We'll be set for trading with Franko and food for a while! Shit, we can finally eat **real** fucking food after so long! I haven't tasted real fucking vegetables in forever!" "We would've found a way! We always did!" "Oh shut the hell up old man! In this world, it's kill or killed! You act like you're my fucking father! I'm nobody's son! Never was!" They stopped shouting and panted when they lost breath from it. Roman wasn't going to lie, but it felt good to finally throw his emotions out completely. This old man was batshit crazy. Roman was almost ready to get into a physical fight with the man. Fine, just one more push and he'll take the supplies he got and get the fuck out of this dump if that's what Boris is going to play it as.

Roman decided to keep pressing it anyway. The cold probably being the last straw given that Roman's little bit of hope was that the old man set the heat for them to quietly keep each other away from another for the day.

"What the hell would you know about suffering? Of what the real lines of war are, old man?" Roman shivered in the old house. His voice echoed in the vast large space like a chamber he was trapped in with the people who never had it as bad as he did growing up. How would any of them know real pain? "I grew up in god damn war, I swear to hell I-" "I lost everything. I don't even know why I bother keep going." The house was silent once more with only the sounds of their heavy breathing. "They shot my girl dead, Roman. Found her there right in Sniper Junction. I watch my own son die from sickness. I couldn't do anything, I..." Boris' face began to turn wet with tears that were already ready to freeze him up cold. "The war took everything from me. I thought you died and it happened all over again."

Roman fucked up, he realized. The old man was sensitive, but this was the first time Roman saw him cry.

Roman cursed lightly to himself and kept his eyes feeling of guilt away from the old man before him. He can't show any vulnerability. There's nobody to trust in a war zone. Sooner or later Boris might even turn on **him** and use his own emotions to his favor. Roman stared at anything **but** the man before him. "Was she pretty?" Was all Roman could say to ease the tension, even if just a little. He wasn't good at shit like this, only just starting it. It was silent for so long besides the small gulps of air from Boris that he began to assume he wasn't going to answer. Roman heard the chair beside him creak quietly. "She could've been a model if she wanted to. Before the war, I asked her if she ever wanted to be." Boris' eyes shined a bit, not like Roman was finally looking or anything. "She said she was fine with how things are, so long as we were together. She always cooked Luka's favorite snack. A boiled egg. He was a little weird one. Instead of candy like every other kid out there, he just wanted eggs and other things to eat." Boris' eyes turned back to a solemn dark, the soul no longer existing yet again since the first time Roman met the guy. 

"When our house was destroyed, we had to live in the basement for a small while. I was hurt from the destruction and couldn't do much." Roman had a bad feeling and knew this was going. He already knew the outcome as it is. "Our son got sick, told me he was thirsty after eating some salted peanuts. Ana..." Boris was ready to cry again at the painful memory, but he needed to let out it. He had it bottled up for so long, it was getting too painful to hold. "She went out to get medicine for our boy. Told me she'll be back and she'll move faster than anything ever." Boris wiped his dirty face of the tears, but the tears kept coming down in painful amounts once more. "She didn't come back that night. Or the next, and then the third day passed and our son got worse and...he didn't wake up the next day and Ana still wasn't back. I had to bury our son." Boris' leg began to move restlessly. By then, Roman sat down on the hard floor, pressed to hold back his own tears ready to fall. He couldn't handle it anymore, thinking about losing everything in such a cruel manner. He knew of death. Always saw it, but he couldn't imagine losing his own kin and **burying** **them**. 

"I buried him in the basement with a small, little wooden cross that I barely was able to make. I went out to find Ana, hoping just maybe I could tell her of the news, if I could just find her. I don't know how long I looked, but I finally found...her body..." Boris almost couldn't go on. "In that damn Sniper Junction itself. Right in the head. I hope she didn't feel it." Boris stood up from the chair, turning to go down one of the many letters in their makeshift home. "I buried her there and I was ready to just let a sniper take me instead. Even left myself out in the open, but nothing came. I decided to just...keep moving all of a sudden. Ended up in this place. That's the whole story." Boris looked at Roman one last time for the rest of the cold day. "Please don't go back to Sniper Junction again. You're the last line I have left." Without even giving Roman a chance to speak, he went down the ladder. Roman stood in place on the hard, cold floor. There was no way that Roman was able to hold in his own tears of realization of how shitty he was to treat that old man like crap the whole time they were together.

"Damn it, old man." He breathed out as he gotten up from the floor and decided to throw fuel in the heater. "You really had to make me feel bad?" He made a nervous laugh to himself. "Fuck you." Roman muttered. It wasn't until night fall that Roman decided to pick up the guitar they had built together a few nights ago and play a little tune. Roman didn't go out that night.

But instead of sleeping, Boris came back up and sat next to Roman's guitar playing. Roman, who wouldn't admit it by words, thought of Boris a better father than his own ever was, in the war torn zone called Pogoren. At least this one appreciated Roman's guitar skills and cared that he was still alive the next day.

**Author's Note:**

> I cried like a freaking baby writing my own story. Aren't I something else? Thanks for reading.


End file.
